To be successful with an online marketing strategy it is necessary to consider how the strengths and weaknesses of your business will precisely affect its marketing.
For this it is important that you carry out an honest and rigorous analysis, looking for strengths and weaknesses, as well as threats and opportunities.
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What are your strengths and weaknesses?
First of all, it is necessary that you know exactly what we mean by strengths and weaknesses in eCommerce. And these terms are closely related to the SWOT Study and at the same time, they give you a global vision of the situation of your online business. In fact, the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of a business (whether online or physical) can help you improve those aspects in which you “sin” and enhance those that distinguish you from your competition.
Therefore, knowing each of them will help you determine the different aspects of your eCommerce, as explained in the eCommerce News article.
We can define strengths as those capabilities that a person has, or a business, that make it stand out. In other words, they represent a positive differentiation from other people or businesses. In this case, we could say that they are the positive, identifying, and differential features of a business.
For example, imagine you have an online toy store. And it occurs to you to put a section in which an image is presented and they can add the toys they want. In addition, you offer the possibility of using 3D so that that room is shown in the house and interacts with the toys. That is a strength of your business because you are generating something that no one has, and therefore it is an important feature to highlight in a marketing strategy.
Let’s talk about the weaknesses. Unlike the previous ones, weaknesses are those characteristics that prevent or hinder the proper development of your business strategy. In other words, we are talking about those factors that are going to harm you and that you need to take into account to improve your eCommerce.
To give you an example, with the same toy store, a weakness would be your seniority. Sure, there are many competitors who have been in the sector for longer, and that means they have loyal customers or a more or less fixed customer base. On the other hand, not you. Therefore, we are talking about a weakness, something that you must improve and at the same time disadvantages that you have compared to your competition.
SWOT study: why it is so important
Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an eCommerce involves carrying out an internal analysis of your business. In other words, it would be to prepare a first part of the SWOT analysis. But what is SWOT analysis?
The acronym SWOT refers to Weaknesses, Threats, Strengths, and Opportunities. It is an analysis that is carried out based on internal aspects (Weaknesses and Strengths) and external (Opportunities and Threats).
This document is very important to be able to analyze what is the current situation of your eCommerce and thus be able to make appropriate and consistent decisions with your business. What does it have to do with online marketing strategy? A lot of.
Specifically, in an online marketing strategy, it is not only necessary to know those factors that make you stand out from the competitors, but you must also know them. That is why discovering the good and the bad of your business is so important because this way you can promote a strategy based on its strength while working to turn those weaknesses into strengths (or, at least, to make them disappear and not be a negative aspect for your eCommerce).
How to carry out a SWOT study in an online marketing strategy
Now that you know how important it is to know the Strengths and Weaknesses, as well as the Threats and Opportunities, the next question you can ask yourself is regarding doing it. That is, how do you do a SWOT analysis in an online marketing strategy for eCommerce?
The SWOT analysis is almost always represented in a 2 × 2 matrix, or in a 2.2 table, in such a way that the internal and external analysis are grouped, and the four concepts are related in such a way that the matrix would be So:
Weaknesses – Threats
Strengths – Opportunities
In this way, the first column would correspond to the internal analysis, while the second would encompass aspects of an external analysis.
And how is it done? Following these steps:
We talk about those factors that can be both strengths and weaknesses. For instance:
- Your brand.
- Production costs.
- Human capital.
- Customer relations.
- Networking.
- Social media.
- Skills and knowledge.
You should make a comprehensive list of everything related internally. Then, you have to separate it into two sections, the strengths, and the weaknesses. How to distinguish them? In the strengths, you must put those factors that generate an advantage over your competitors.
For example better-known brands, better networking, more attractive products, better prices …
On the other hand, you would have weaknesses. These are those that will make you less competitive, such as lack of experience, internal problems, old facilities, not having a position in eCommerce, not having social networks …
As with internal factors, it is also necessary to do with external factors but always based on the fact that the competition is online since we are talking about eCommerce.
In this case, factors such as suppliers, distributors, economic factors, changes in customer behavior, older competitors… can determine your opportunities and threats.
Develop your online marketing strategy enhancing the advantages of your eCommerce
Now that you know all the factors that can influence the progress of your eCommerce, it is time to develop an online marketing strategy that focuses on benefiting from your Strengths and Opportunities, at the same time that you turn Weaknesses into something good, and curb them. Threats
For example, imagine that weakness is not having social networks. An online marketing strategy would be to create these networks and give them a brand “personality”, that is, give them life and maintain contact with users who may be interested in your product or business.
Next, and in a practical way, you will be able to know what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of an eCommerce business. Thus, you will be able to see the result that you could obtain from a SWOT analysis.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your eCommerce business?
When it comes to an online marketing strategy, it is a good idea to conduct market research on your current customers. This will help you build a more honest view of your reputation as a company in the market.
Strengths
- Some examples of strengths may include
- Personal and flexible customer service
- Multiple special features or benefits that your products offer
- Have advanced or specialized knowledge
Weaknesses
- Regarding the weaknesses
- Not having the necessary financial resources
- Lack of a good reputation in the market
- Have inefficient accounting systems
Online Marketing Strategy: What About Opportunities and Threats?
In this online marketing strategy for eCommerce businesses, it is also important to include both opportunities and threats. In this sense we have:
Opportunities
- Increase the demand of a certain market segment
- Use the Internet to reach new markets
- The use of technologies that improve the quality of products
Threats
- The emergence of new competitors
- Better, more attractive, or sophisticated, even cheaper versions of the product on offer
- New laws that increase expenses
- A slowdown in the economy that reduces global demand
In any case, once you have completed this analysis, you can measure the potential effects of each element to shape your online marketing strategy. Considering all these aspects, it is more likely to create an online marketing strategy in line with current requirements and with greater chances of success.
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